Monday, April 6, 2015

• The Caramel Apple Dress •


This post could also be entitled "The Dress of Doom" or "An Unhappy Ending."
I know. It sounds dramatic, and for good reason! It all started a few months ago when I got the notion to make a dress out of this little 3 1/2 yard piece of fabric. I have always had a tremendous desire to make Simplicity 1777, and this seemed to be just the time to make it.

I made a mockup long ago, and it just did not look good. After making my gumdrop dress, I got the idea of gathering this bodice rather than pleating it. It ended up looking much better than the pleats.

I started cutting out the bodice and sleeves, and then went to measure another '40s dress to see how much I needed to lengthen this skirt. The dress that I happened to be measuring was Simplicity 1587, which has a skirt yoke. 

You can guess what comes next; I measured the length from the bottom of the yoke seam, rather than the waist seam. What. a. genius. That resulted in a skirt that was absolutely, positively too short! My only comfort was that I remembered there being a little more of this fabric at the store. We went there the following week, and it was still there! There were only about 1 3/4 yards left, however, and when I laid the skirt pieces out, that was not enough to lengthen them sufficiently. I wasn't extremely jubilant at that point, but through some helpful suggestions from my mom, I decided to try laying out the Simplicity 1587 skirt. It fit onto the fabric. I had a notion to make the skirt a little different, so I narrowed it down in order to omit the gathering in the center front. 


I sewed up the dress and tried it on before installing the zipper, and it seemed to look great! But the next time I tried it on after the zipper was in, it looked shockingly bad. The combination of the bodice seam angles and skirt seams made for an absolutely dreadful dress. The skirt hung limply and had no shape whatsoever. I gave up on it at that point. There was no hope for the awful thing, and there was no way I would ever try to remake it!!

 Last week, however, I finally worked up the ambition to try tweaking it so that it would hang properly. I ended up sewing the waist seam differently here and there, which made it palatable in the end. It's still not my favorite dress, at all, but at least it is wearable.

The conclusion which I have come to is that I no longer have an insatiable desire to make Simplicity 1777. At all.


Aside from the doom and gloom, there are some parts of the dress that I do like. The elasticized ruching on the sleeves is quite fun!


My most marvelous ungathered skirt and yoke. I do like the design, but this experience hasn't exactly boosted my confidence to make it again any time soon.


I also really like this hat. My mom finds the most amazing hats ever. 


These buttons are another highly redeeming aspect of this dress. Don't they just look like butterscotch candies? For some reason this fabric just looked "caramel apple-y" to all of us, hence the slightly fall-like name.


I was glad to see that my lovely beaded purse matched this outfit as well. I just love it!


I am glad, at least, that I finished the dress. It's always a good feeling when you complete a UFO!
My current project is a 1930s dress, and I'm so excited! The bonus (on top of the fact that it will be my first really 1930s-style dress) is that it has a keyhole opening, perfect for photographing for my tutorial! That will be up within the next couple of weeks.

• Photography by my mom •



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23 comments:

  1. How annoying is a project when it doesn't quite work out. I had to remove sleeves from my latest blouse; after spending much time and liking the look, it was just too tight.
    I do really like your final dress though; you have a knack for matching lovely silhouettes with gorgeous fabric

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    1. Oh, sorry about your blouse!! I hope you were able to fix it.
      Thank you, Kaitlyn!! You're too kind! :)

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  2. Really not bad a all for a dress that caused you so much trouble :-) The buttons are wonderful and the yoke looks simply gorgeous. Hope you had nice easter holidays!

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    1. Thank you, Draped in Cloudlets!! I do like the buttons an awful lot myself!! :)

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  3. Oh I really love all the details of this dress...especially those buttons. They do look just like butterscotch (one of my favorite candies! :)
    Great job sticking with it, it turned out wonderfully!

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  4. I agree, it is a wonderful feeling to complete a UFO! I've been trying to tackle my mending/UFO pile this winter but it so easy to get distracted by new projects. I think this dress turned out lovely! It has some great details and the fabric is very pretty.
    Not sure if you follow my blog but I'd like to invite you to take part in my spring photo contest. You have some great 1940s outfits so I'm sure you would be able to put something together for the photo contest. I'll have more details posted soon but in the mean time you can check out this post. http://vintagevisions27.blogspot.com/2015/04/color-recipes-for-spring-and-vintage.html
    -Emily
    Emily's Vintage Visions

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    1. Thank you, Emily! It does indeed feel wonderful to have finished it.
      I would love to participate in your contest!! I'll start thinking about it right away! Thank you for letting me know about it! :)

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  5. Your dress looks lovely Esther! What type of fabric did you make it out of? I think it turned out beautifully in the end, regardless of what you say. ;P

    Brigid
    the Middle Sister and Singer

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    1. Thank you, Brigid!! It's a cotton - that's what the majority of my dresses are made out of simply because it's the most readily available, best quality, easiest to sew material around here.
      You're sweet!! :)

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  6. Esther,

    This dress is definitely worth all of the effort you put into it! You look so lovely as always. : ) The fabric you choose is so pretty.

    -Sarah

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    1. Thank you so much, Sarah!! You are so sweet! :)

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  7. Sorry to hear you had so much trouble with the dress, but the final result looks really great! The detailing is lovely and your fabric choice is quite charming. Hopefully your next project will be more enjoyable to sew :)

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    1. Thank you, Kate!! My next project was indeed much more enjoyable. Thank you for the well wishes! :)

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  8. So glad you decided to finish the dress!!! It really does look marvelous, as do all of your dress (still so envious of all your creations, hehe). You are truly a very talented seamstress:)
    -Madison
    www.1minniemuse.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you, Madison!! Me too!! You're very sweet!! :)

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  9. This dress looks so fabulous on you!
    {I hope that's some consolation for all the trouble it caused you, my dear!}
    I love the fabric & those sleeves!
    That hat is adorbs & those gloves are so sweet.
    Why do I always forget about gloves?
    Poor neglected gloves.
    I cannot wait to see the 30s dress you're working on! I love the 30s. :D
    And, I hope it goes a lot smoother for you too.

    Love,
    Michelle ^_^
    Delightful Handwork

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    1. Aw, thank you, Michelle! That is indeed more than just some consolation. :)
      Poor gloves! I confess I do rather ignore them myself, other than for photo shoots. Oops.
      I can't wait to put my new dress on the blog; in fact, I can't wait to wear it! I still have to finish the hem and make a belt.
      Thanks, dear Michelle for all of your lovely words. You're always so sweet! :)

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  10. You name your dresses too!! Huzzah! I am loving the beautiful print of your dress and your accessories make my heart so happy!! Very well done!
    Blessings!
    Gina

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    1. I sure do!! What could be more fun, right?! :)
      Thank you so much, Gina!!

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  11. Oh Esther dear, this whole outfit is so timelessly pretty. There is such a powerfully lovely sense of elegance and femininity to everything you make and wear.

    Oodles of hugs,
    ♥ Jessica

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    1. Thank you so much, Jessica!! You are so very kind!!

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  12. Thank you to everyone who commented! Your lovely words have quite reconciled me to this dress! You're all very sweet!! :)

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